It’s ‘ard to be ‘umble, says Jaime Carreon, who offers his two cents on the proper pronunciation of Humble, TX

Having been born and raised in far West Texas, I am not afflicted with that peculiarity commonly referred to as the Texas twang. It has led to people informing me that I can’t possibly be from Texas because I don’t have an accent. Or, as they say here, an ack-say-ent. I attribute this to the devoted mentoring of several English teachers that I was blessed with in grade school, the most memorable being Mrs. Lyell in sixth grade. She was possessed, as are many people from Georgia, of a beautiful Southern accent, which she did her best not to pass on to us. “If ah ever ketch y’all sayin’ or writin’ y’all or a’int,” she would say, “Ah’ll fail y’all on the spot!” The lesson was not lost on me, and ah a’int never gonna say a’int or y’all again.

Being somewhat educated in English presented a few problems for me once I moved to the swamps of East Texas. While searching for a house, I was informed that a good area in which to live close to the airport was a place called Umble. Umble? What a strange name, I thought. It was strange enough to make me look for it on a map. It was right where everyone said it would be, except on the map, it said “Humble.” Ok, I thought, like the Humble Oil commercials I remembered seeing as kid. What I remembered most was the announcers at the end of the commercial saying, “Humble Oil Company, Houston, Texas.” There were two different announcers, one of whom would say “Humble Oil’, and one who would say “Umble Oil.” One of those Texas thangs, I figured.

I didn’t know how sensitive people could be about Umble until a few weeks later, when I walked into a local electronics store to buy something I needed for a project. The clerk asked me if I’d like to receive their catalog (a paper book, this was before computers took over everyone’s life). I had to give them an address, so I rattled it off, saying “Humble, Texas” at the end. The look I received was the high point of the day. “Where?” the clerk asked. Having given up drinking, drugs and sniffing glue when I was a toddler, I knew my speech wasn’t slurred, so I repeated it. “Oh!” he said, light bulbs flashing on above his head. “I didn’t understand you. You have to pronounce it “Uhhhhhhhhmble” so people will think you’re from here.”

The look he got from me must have been the high point of his day. I’m not from here (and neither was he, it turned out), and at that point I sure didn’t want anybody thinking I was. But, the episode got me to wondering. Why, exactly, do they pronounce it Uhhhhhhmble? A little research turned up a few interesting facts. Humble Oil, which later became Exxon, was started there. One of the town’s founders was a man named Pleasant Humble, who happened to be from England, and whose accent probably accounted for the silent “H” in the name. I could see that, as Spanish is the same way with H’s. But I could never find anyone who could tell me that. They didn’t know why at the City Museum either, but the annoyance was genuine when one of the ladies there asked me why I pronounced it “Humble.” Because, I said (paraphrasing one of my favorite British comedians), there’s an “H” in it!” Since then, using (or not using) the “H” has turned into a favorite pastime.

“So,” someone from Pennsylvania asked me, “where are you from?”

“Uhhhhhhmble, Texas” I replied.

“Where is that, exactly?”

“Right across Lake Ouston (would that be Owston or Ooston?) from Uffman!”

People who are not from Umble find that pretty amusing. Unless they ‘appen to be from Uffman.

Now, before you get angry with me about pronunciations, you need to understand that I’ve been listening to people mangle my name for the last fifty-odd years. It’s Jaime (J pronounced as H with the short E at the end), usually spoken around here as Jamie, or Hey-me, or Hi-me, or Hi-may, or Himmy, or as one poor soul (who couldn’t comprehend that the name was not English) put it, Joe. My wife, being a Yankee, can’t pronounce it either. It’s gotten so bad that when someone actually does say it correctly, I have to ask to make sure they are addressing me. Which leads to this – since in Spanish, J is pronounced like H, and in Umble you don’t pronounce the H at all, does that make me Aime (Amy??) in Umble? Or is it I-meh? Or I-may? Or I-me? And if Umble is spoken in Spanish, is it Uhhhmmblay or Oooomblay? I’m confused.

So, forgive me if I continue to tell people I’m from Humble. It’s really a great little town, and I like living there, even though I’m not from there. And I’m sticking to my guns. There is an H in it, after all.

Mrs. Lyell would have been proud of me.

Dedicated with love to Mrs. Lyell, wherever you are; and with sincerest apologies to Mac Davis….

4 Responses

There are hundreds of Texas towns that are pronounced by locals one way and most others, including folks from Texas, another. The majority are not because they are Spanish like well known mispronounced places such as Mexia, Bexar Co., or Refgio. Most are due to a person’s name sauch as Manor (mayner) or because people don’t pronounce the last letter if it is a vowel such as Bronte (bront). Over the years, we’ve had so many imported local news/weather folks (who were never told how to pronounce local town names), I get counfused myself. I’ve lived in Texas all my life, have heard Humble prounounced both ways, but I have always pronounced the H. Going US 290 to the west side of Austin I can name 4 places with names often mispronounced (Carmine, Elgin, Manor, & Manchaca Road).

These two guys are driving across Texas and they come to a small town. One of them says “Cool, we’re in me-hai-ah.” His buddy says “No we’re not, we’re in Mex-ee-ah, look at how it’s spelled.” So they get in a huge arguement and decide to pull over and ask a local. They go in and tell the girl behind the counter “We need for you to settle an arguement. Could you please tell us where we are, and say it real slow so we can understand you?” She gives them a long look and says “OK…. you’re at the Daaaarrrreeeee Quuuueeeeeeennnnn.”

I have always believed that the way the residents pronounce the name of their town is the “correct” way to do it. English has enough oddball spelling, that a silent H should not bother us. I admit that I often forget to drop the H in Humble and I almost always get corrected.